We, the undersigned residents of the Appalachia, request that President Obama and Vice President Biden visit the coalfields of Eastern Kentucky, to listen to residents' concerns about the decline of the coal industry and its impact on the economy, and to provide concrete and specific solutions to the long-term problems of poverty and joblessness in the region.
We request that the President and Vice President hold a community forum in Prestonsburg, Ky., to listen to the concerns of local leaders and ordinary families who struggle to subsist, and to present them with a vision for how Appalachia can move forward.